St. Valentine is a legend and generally a legend is not a
fact (100% true). Although it might contain 5-10% of truth, the story is
normally woven around ‘hearsay’ and is greatly exaggerated, inflated, and
sometimes outright fabricated.

Most of what is known about Saint Valentine (Latin: Valentinus) is
legendary. In fact, historians are not completely certain which Valentine is
commemorated on February 14. The commemoration may celebrate up to three
different Valentines.
The first was a Roman priest martyred on the Flaminian Way under Roman
Emperor Claudius (c. AD 269). The second was a bishop of Terni (ancient
Interamna), born around 175 AD, who was taken to Rome and martyred (in both
cases, the legends resemble, so they might be the one and the same person). The
third Valentine was a martyr in the Roman province of Africa, about whom little
else is known.
Medieval scholar Jack Oruch, in the July 1981 issue of Speculum
(Journal of Medieval Studies) makes a strong case that the Saint Valentine's
Day connection to love and romance derives solely from Geoffrey Chaucer's Parliament
of Foules (Fowls). In this poem, nature convenes a parliament in which
birds will choose their mate. Even though Chaucer connects the romantic
overtones of Saint Valentine's Day to ancient customs, Oruch effectively
argues that no such traditions existed before Chaucer's time.
Thus, modern research suggests it is unlikely that secular Saint Valentine's
Day customs are pagan practices derived from the Roman Lupercalia. They are
modern-day invention!

As per Catholic Stand:

Endangering the
sanctity of marriage:

Unfortunately, secularization and commercialization haven’t
been the end of the betrayal of Saint Valentine. With 50 Shades of Grey
being marketed as a romantic outing for couples on this day of love, we are
sending an even more diabolical message – lust, perversion, and the toll they
take in their pure selfishness is being glorified. Holding BDSM
(bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism) up as examples of what love looks
like, we endanger an entire generation’s outlook on the sanctity of marriage

As per History Channel:

In all, there are about
a dozen St. Valentines, plus a pope!

The saint we celebrate on Valentine’s Day is known
officially as St. Valentine of Rome in order to differentiate him from the
dozen or so other Valentines on the list. Because “Valentinus”—from the Latin
word for worthy, strong or powerful—was a popular moniker between the second
and eighth centuries A.D., several martyrs over the centuries have carried this
name.

Chaucer may have invented Valentine’s
Day.
The medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer often took liberties with history,
placing his poetic characters into fictitious historical contexts that he
represented as real. No record exists of romantic celebrations on Valentine’s
Day prior to a poem Chaucer wrote around 1375. In his work “Parliament of
Foules,” he links a tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St.
Valentine’s feast day–an association that didn’t exist until after his poem
received widespread attention. The poem refers to February 14 as the day birds
(and humans) come together to find a mate. When Chaucer wrote:

Like many of the world's major holidays, St.
Valentine's Day is an annual observance with its roots entrenched firmly in
pagan beliefs and customs. What would God think about Valentine's Day?

he
World Book Encyclopedia tells us regarding Valentine’s Day: “The customs
connected with the day . . . probably come from an ancient Roman
festival called Lupercalia which took place every February 15. The
festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage, and Pan, the
god of nature” (1973, vol. 20, p. 204).

For
the people of ancient Rome, the festival of Lupercalia was an annual ritual
believed to ward off evil spirits and increase fertility. Lupercalia (also
known as Februatio, from which comes the month name February) was popular among
many of the new converts to the fast-rising Catholic Church.

Pope
Gelasius officially condemned the pagan Roman festival and banned its
observance, many of its accompanying practices quickly appeared in a newly
established holiday added by him to the official church list of feast days in A.D.
496—St. Valentine’s Day.

What
amounted to a renamed, refurbished Lupercalia then picked up steam, gradually
adapting itself into the Valentine’s Day we know today, which included the
added elements of Valentine cards and Cupid, the Roman god
of erotic love.

“When the Lord your
God cuts off from before you

the nations which you
go to dispossess … do not

inquire after their
gods, saying, ‘How did these

nations serve their
gods? I also will do likewise.

You shall not worship
the Lord your God in that

way; for every
abomination to the Lord which

He hates they have
done to their gods …

Whatever I command
you, be careful to observe it;

you shall not add to
it nor take away from it.”

(Deuteronomy
12:29-32).

Though
the practices of Lupercalia have been repackaged and dressed up in the form of
Valentine’s Day, these verses indicate they remain just as detestable as they
have always been in our Creator’s eyes. Instead of pagan days and practices,
our focus should be on the festivals God has given us in the Bible, which point
us toward His amazing and incomparable plan for all of humanity.

The origins of the modern Valentine’s Day are mostly legend.
Legend has it St. Valentine was a priest who died defending marriage under a
Roman emperor opposed to the practice. Legend has it the date was set to
parallel the beginning of bird mating season. The clearest connection between
St. Valentine and the celebration of romantic love surfaces in the Medieval
work of Geoffrey Chaucer. In his Pariliament of Foules, Chaucer drafts his own
legend: “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / When every foul cometh ther
to choose his mate.”

The origin of this holiday for the expression of love really isn't romantic
at all—at least not in the traditional sense. Father Frank O'Gara of
Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin, Ireland, tells the real story of the man
behind the holiday—St. Valentine.
"He was a Roman Priest at a time when there was an emperor called
Claudias who persecuted the church at that particular time," Father O'Gara
explains. "He also had an edict that prohibited the marriage of young
people. This was based on the hypothesis that unmarried soldiers fought better
than married soldiers because married soldiers might be afraid of what might
happen to them or their wives or families if they died."
"I think we must bear in mind that it was a very permissive society in
which Valentine lived," says Father O'Gara. "Polygamy would have been
much more popular than just one woman and one man living together. The idea of
encouraging them to marry within the Christian church was what Valentine was
about. And he secretly married them because of the edict."
Valentine was eventually caught, imprisoned and tortured for performing
marriage ceremonies against the command of Emperor Claudius the second. There
are legends surrounding Valentine's actions while in prison. He fell in love
with the daughter of the Jailer called Asterius.

In the year 269 AD, Valentine was sentenced to a three part execution of a
beating, stoning, and finally decapitation. The story goes that the last words
he wrote were in a note to Asterius' daughter. He inspired today's romantic
missives by signing it, "from your Valentine."

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QURAN RECITATION

Al-Quran

The Guiding Light

WELCOME HOME

Assalaam-o-alaikum!

We are glad to see you here. We can accompany you home. By joining us, you'll, Insha-Allah, prepare yourself mentally and spiritually for your onward journey on the road less traveled. We are heading for Home - the promised Home. Allah says:

M. Javed Naseem

M. Javed Naseem (Jay Max) is a well-known journalist and broadcaster from Lahore (Pakistan). He is the author of six books. He has worked as a reporter and then sub-editor for daily Nawa-i-Waqt, Lahore; as sub-editor with the Pakistan Times, Lahore; and as editor of the weekly Community News, New York, NY, among others.He was an international broadcaster for radio Deutsche Welle (The Voice of Germany), Cologne, Germany; news editor and newscaster for Third World Broadcasting TV in New York; was producer & director of ‘Mabuhay’, an English language TV show for the Filipino community in New York. He had been an announcer at Radio Pakistan, Lahore; and Punjabi newscaster for Pakistan Television, Lahore. Before entering the field of professional journalism, he was a Lecturer/Instructor at the Govt. Commercial Training Institute, Lahore. He knows English, French, German, Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Persian and some Arabic. He writes for Islamic websites. He is a Pakistani-American and now lives in retirement in Morocco, North Africa.Publications: The Way (Sunnah) of The Prophet (s.a.w.); God's Prescription - Al-Quran; A Wake-up Call; You Are Special; Stories of Prophets.